Lawyers, Rule of Law, and Social Justice: A Latin American Prespective

Abstract

This paper deals with two important ideas: rule of law and social justice. The question is whether these are values for lawyers and the legal system. Both concepts have a long history given that they are related to the idea of justice and a philosophical tradition going back to ancient Greece. However, my approach is to treat these ideas in terms of their present meaning and to avoid the philosophical depths by examining them from a social sciences perspective. Give the subject, however, some references to great philosophers are nevertheless inevitable.